The worship team from Planetshakers Church, one of Australia’s fastest growing churches in history, released Outback Worship Sessions globally amidst acclaim last week through Integrity Music. During its first week at retail, the album became the most downloaded iTunes album across all genres of music for a period of time in Malaysia and Singapore while hitting No. 3 in Indonesia, No. 8 in South Africa, No. 9 in Australia, No. 12 in Colombia, No. 21 in the Philippines, No. 22 in Taiwan and more significant chart positions across the globe. The album also hit No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in the USA and No. 3 in the UK on the iTunes Christian charts. As the church and its music transcends cultures, languages and geographical boundaries, Outback Worship Sessions’ first week sales success has made it one of the fastest selling albums in Planetshakers’ history.

What started as a project to re-craft Planetshakers’ most-loved worship anthems into a form accessible to worship teams representing the wider church body grew into an 11-track studio recording produced by Grammy- and Dove-Award winning Ed Cash. Giving a new intimate ‘voice’ to Planetshakers’ best-loved anthems, Cash also co-wrote “Spirit Of God” and “Father” for Outback Worship Sessions with Planetshakers’ Bj Pridham. Cash further penned the album’s new song, “My Soul Longs For Jesus,” which NewReleaseTuesday.com (NRT) calls “an incredible song for the Church.” The new video of the song recorded in Australia’s Outback and released May 9 has already received more than 43,000 views and can be seen here.

Two additional videos for “Like A Fire” and “Nothing Is Impossible” from Outback Worship Sessions have been recorded organically in a small church in the heart of Australia’s Outback. Together with “My Soul Longs for Jesus,” the videos will be hosted on YouTube as resources for churches and worship leaders around the globe.

Integrity Music is also offering a companion digital Outback Worship Sessions songbook free of charge through www.weareworship.com.

Seeing and hearing the vision of the new album, Worship Leader magazine lauds the recording as “A gift to the Church… a powerful collection of accessible, incredible congregational songs… a powerful worship experience, both familiar and new.” NewReleaseTuesday.com agrees that “there are several instantly singable and worshipful arrangements that you’ll want to add to your Sunday morning setlist,” as Soul-Audio.com declares the music is “perfect for church worship teams or times of personal worship.”LouderThanTheMusic.com suggests “this album is one to get hold of straight away,” affirmed by FDRMX.com saying that “Outback Worship Sessions is a carefully crafted album that will usher in a new generation of fans.”

Having led over 200,000 people at a single event in Asia and sharing new music and other favorite Planetshakers worship anthems around the world, Planetshakers were also featured May 23 during the Big Church Day Out in West Sussex, UK along with Switchfoot, NEEDTOBREATHE, Lecrae and more. Planetshakers will also be the featured worship leader June 28-29 during several events at CBA’s International Christian Retail Show 2015 (ICRS) that will include appearances by Lee Greenwood, Josh McDowell, Steve Green (Hobby Lobby) and others. Planetshakers will further be featured during the National Worship Leader Conference June 23-25 and headlining along with Casting Crowns and Jesus Culture “Florida’s biggest Christian music festival,” Rock The Universe, Sept. 12. These and other upcoming tour dates follow:

Planetshakers Band is passionate about uniting generations worldwide through worship and is known for favorites like “Like A Fire,” “Endless Praise,” “Nothing Is Impossible,” “This Is Our Time” and “The Anthem.” As Australia’s largest youth/young adult Christian movement, Planetshakers’ goal is to see people encounter God, be transformed by His presence and empowered to make a difference in their world. While they tour internationally, the team remains based out of Planetshakers Church, a multi-campus, 12,000-plus member congregation based in Melbourne, Australia that is pastored by husband and wife, Russell and Sam Evans.

In addition to the music and message, Planetshakers Church is involved in numerous community and charitable causes including prison ministry, school programs, refugee outreach, disaster relief and welfare assistance. It also partners with World Vision to assist in urgent humanitarian crises around the world, and runs Planetshakers College in Melbourne, which equips local and international students to impact their world for Christ.

A church, a movement and a gifted musical ministry, Planetshakers also reach 105 countries with Planetshakers TV, a 30-minute Christian television program birthed out of the desire to empower generations to win generations.

Integrity is part of the David C Cook family, a nonprofit global resource provider serving the Church with life-transforming materials. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and with offices in Tennessee and the United Kingdom, Integrity is committed to taking songs of substance to the local church and its leaders around the world. Integrity publishes many of the top songs in the Church, including the No. 1 radio hit “We Believe” (Newsboys) as well as church standards “Revelation Song,” “Open The Eyes Of My Heart,” “Your Great Name” and “I Am Free.” Additional information can be found at www.integritymusic.com.

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About The Author

Iain Moss is the Managing Editor of JesusWired.com and a contributor. He’s been an enormous Christian music fan since a The Tribe concert in 2001 and is passionate about spending his life changing the Christian music stereotype. He has a punny sense of humor, is a sports lover and is a keen chess and go player.
His favorite 10 bands are: Thousand Foot Krutch, Disciple, KJ-52, Skillet, Stellar Kart, Kutless, Manafest, Family Force 5, Seventh Day Slumber, and Ashes Remain.
oh, and he's from the land of crumpets and tea, a.k.a the U.K.!